Today is the anniversary of The United States of America adopting the flag as the symbol of our nation. To pair with that today, IAVA was welcomed to the Reserve Officers Association Headquarters for the revealing of the newly established Veteran’s Creed. Eleven Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs) teamed up to remind our veterans of their roots over eight key points that all can correlate directly to their service.

IAVA Chief Policy Officer @mabryant256 discussing the #VeteransCreed today with 11 other VSOs including the @VFWHQ. We hope this creed will show veterans the value of their military experience in leading their communities after they return home. pic.twitter.com/4kzBe5XmHe

— IAVA (@iava) June 14, 2018

We were joined by Post 9-11 veterans and Representatives Brian Mast (R-FL), Conor Lamb (D-PA), and Don Bacon (R-NE) to listen to some wise words by former Chief of Staff of the Army, (Ret.) General George W. Casey. GEN Casey spoke for a few minutes and his words ignited a resounding passion in the hearts of all veterans in the room.

ICYMI: we had a great time introducing the #VeteransCreed today with @RepBrianMast, @RepConorLamb and General George Casey. We hope this will inspire our nation’s veterans to continue leading their country even after their service has ended. https://t.co/0cPfa1TxXX pic.twitter.com/3zHc7BOcWN

— IAVA (@iava) June 14, 2018

This Creed is meant to allow us to retain our core values we swore to live by in the armed services, values such as Integrity First, Service Before Self, and Excellence in all we do (USAF Vet here!). These values across any branch change our lives whether we like it or not, but most importantly, what I gained from this gathering was that my service to this country is not complete.

I may have hung up the uniform two years ago, but there are still problems many of my prior colleagues and friends are experiencing and only few organizations pick up the fight to represent them. If we do not pay attention or act on our integrity first principles, then what good are we as citizens, much less as veterans? I encourage all of my fellow servicemen and women to get educated on what is going on and get involved!

Stay involved with IAVA and join our community here. Don’t worry, there’s no dues, you paid those on the battlefield.